What I came up with to avoid hitting the rear of the cab with the fiver when backing

[johndeerefarmer]

This is what I came up with to avoid hitting the corner of my cab. My bed cover has mounting bolts on each side a few inches from the front. I bought a set of the HF trailer alignment rods and stick them to the bolt heads. As I back up and turn sharp at the point I start pushing the rod forward I still have 3-4" of cab to fiver clearance. The view of the passenger side is great. On the driver's side it's tougher. I may paint the rod a bright yellow or cover it with yellow electrical tape so I can see it start to move.

If your bed cover doesn't have bolts you could always glue washers to it at the proper location and place the rods there

[johndeerefarmer]

I don't have a clue as to why some of my pixs are rotated and others aren't. Sorry....................

[vonzoog]

Very clever. Good job.

[goldsp8]

Before I bought the "I ball", I used those to line up the truck with the hitch on the camper. Worked quite well.

[MtnGuy]

Ingenious system, Donald !!

When I can see a gap between the side of my truck and the opposite side of the camper, I know I am nearing the maximum turn axle.

[Cate&Rob]

Donald - if you had a magnetic proximity switch on the ball and a magnet on the trailer (or vice versa) . . . bringing the two close together could sound an alarm or light a warning light.

Rob

[Bigmac]

Donald - if you had a magnetic proximity switch on the ball and a magnet on the trailer (or vice versa) . . . bringing the two close together could sound an alarm or light a warning light.

Rob

That’s a good thought. Now if I could figure how to do it??

[Cate&Rob]

That’s a good thought. Now if I could figure how to do it??

A proximity switch from a home security alarm system could work.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MAGNETIC-ALA...-/131316544297
(I use these to control lights in various storage cupboards in the RV)

Rob

[johndeerefarmer]

Donald - if you had a magnetic proximity switch on the ball and a magnet on the trailer (or vice versa) . . . bringing the two close together could sound an alarm or light a warning light.

Rob

Rob,

Somewhere out in my electronics shop/ham shack I have some reed switches from an electronics project that I was working on 15 or 20 years ago. I wouldn't want to drill holes and run wires in the front cap of my new Reflection so the magnets would have to go on the front cap. I could take a refrigerator magnet (it it was strong enough) to activate the reed switch and glue two of them on the front cap. If not then a couple of those super strong neodymium magnets on the front cap. I would prefer to have the reed switches on something flexible so either attach them to the HF magnetic rods or maybe a couple of curb feelers? Then as you said a 12V buzzer or alarm to let me know that I needed to stop...
I guess I will have to add this to my "to do" list for the winter.

I seem to spend more time modifying my purchases (RVs, Polaris side by sides, and farm equipment) than using them but I guess that's what you get for being a picky perfectionist.

Thanks for the suggestion. If I get that project finished I will post the results here

Donald

[gbkims]

I don't have a clue as to why some of my pixs are rotated and others aren't. Sorry....................

Might be the camera's EXIF data tags in the photo. Why Your Photos Don’t Always Appear Correctly Rotated
Why Your iPhone Photos Are Upside Down & How To Fix That
Some have found just opening the photos in a photo editor program and saving w/o doing anything fixes the rotation.

Gene